Splicing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein the fiber tows are clamped in a fixed position while opposed spaced jet devices are moved in unison across the width of the tow. The apparatus includes a support, upper and lower sub-assemblies cantilevered from said support defining a slot between the subassemblies, means for mounting the jets on either side of the slot for moving in unison toward and away from the support and a means for clamping the tows after they are inserted in the slot.

United States Patent [191 Nunn [ 1 Mar. 18, 1975 SPLICING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Gary Franklin Nunn, Lugoff, S.C.

[73] Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del.

[22] Filed: Mar. 25, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 454,419

[52] US. Cl. 57/22 [51] Int. Cl D01h 15/00 [58] Field of Search 57/1, 22, 23, 34 R, 142, 57/159; 28/1; 19/161 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,273,330 9/1966 Gonsalves 57/22 X 3,339,362 9/1967 Dodson et a1...

3,345,809 10/1967 Gemeinhardt 57/22 3,407,583 10/1968 Irwin et a1 57/22 3,458,905 8/1969 Dodson et a1 57/22 X 3,477,217 11/1969 Bell et a1 57/22 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,266,844 3/1972 United Kingdom 57/22 Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins ABSTRACT An apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein the fiber tows are clamped in a fixed position while opposed spaced jet devices are moved in unison across the width of the tow. The apparatus includes a support, upper and lower sub-assemblies cantilevered from said support defining a slot between the subassemblies, means for mounting the jets on either side of the slot for moving in unison toward and away from the support and a means for clamping the tows after they are inserted in the slot.

, 4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATEHTED "AR 1 8 I975 SHEET 1 [If 2 FIG.5

SHEET 2 0f 2 AM y AIR SUPPLY r PATENTEBHAR 1 8 19. 5

SPLICING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to pneumatic jet treatment for joining lengths of textile tow to provide continuous strands. More specifically, the invention concerns improved novel and useful auxiliary apparatus for holding tow sections tightly and manipulating the jet to provide for narrow splices extending along a narrow straight line across the full width of a spread tow.

In the past, tow specimens have been joined by many techniques including the use of a fluid jet as taught by Dodson et al. in US. Pat. No. 3,339,362. The splices produced by that technology have been satisfactory for many applications but the procedure has been known to be too time-consuming and the splice is not consistently strong enough nor small enough for some uses such as continuous cutting to staple by passage through a staple cutter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In an apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein said overlapped tows are passed between opposed fluid jet streams issuing from spaced jets facing each other, the improvement comprising: a support; upper and lower sub-assemblies cantilevered from said support defining a uniform slot there between; means for slidably mounting said spaced jets in said upper and lower sub-assemblies on either side of said slot for movement in unison toward and away from said support; and means adjacent each edge of the slot for releasably clamping the overlapping tows after they are inserted and extended beyond each edge of the slot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric sketch of the assembled apparatus showing the front portion;

FIG. 2 is an isometric sketch showing the rear portion of the apparatus;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation, sectioned in a vertical plane parallel to the long axis of the apparatus and extending through the center of the opposed jetting devices, other portions of the assembly broken away;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation half in section and partly broken away, the section taken in a vertical plane through the center of the apparatus;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a carriage to which the apparatus of the invention is attached; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic piping diagram for a pneumatic circuit applicable to this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning first to FIGS. 1 and 4, the invention is seen to comprise a support plate 10 having suitable holes 11, ll, 11", etc., for fixing this plate rigidly to a frame or to a movable carriage. Fixed to the front surface of this mounting plate is an upper cantilevered sub-assembly and a lower cantilevered sub-assembly 30, defining a uniformly thick slot 40 between the two subassemblies. In the preferred embodiment, this slot was made approximately 1 1 mm. in thickness, but this thickness dimension is not critical to the invention and may be selected to suit the thickness of the material to be spliced. An apron 50 extends longitudinally out from lower sub-assembly to provide a place for assembling the tows 18, 19 to be spliced in preparation for inserting them in the slot 40.

Sub-assembly 20 comprises first an elongated upper base plate 22, having a viewing window 23 therethrough which extends over a major portion of the length of plate 22. Fastened to the long edges of plate 22 are two identical clamp retainer plates 24, 24', each having a central cut-out 25 extending part way down from the top of these plates. Inside each retainer plate 24, 24, there is mounted a slidable clamping plate such as 26. A lug 27 is constructed with a boss 28 to fit into an appropriate hole in clamping plate 26. A threaded bore is provided near the other end of lug 27 to receive the piston rod 61 of air cylinder 60. Cylinder 60 is threaded to a mounting block 63 which extends across the sub-assembly 20 and is fastened to base plate 22. The structures of air cylinder 60, lug 27, and clamping plate 26 are duplicated on the other edge of subassembly 20. An upper shoulder bar 29 is fastened to the under side of plate 22 and constructed with a vertical face F to receive the inside face of clamping plate 26. A ledge L arranged to support one side of the upper half of the splicer head is explained later. An identical shoulder bar is mounted just inside the other edge of sub-assembly 20. End piece 21 extends across the outer end of sub-assembly 20 and is fastened to the end of plate 22.

Lower sub-assembly 30 comprises a clamp anvil 31 along one edge of a lower base plate 32. Plate 32 is identical to plate 22, even including an elongate opening 23. A lower shoulder bar 33 is fastened to plate 32 just inside anvil 31 and has a face F adjacent the inner face of anvil 31. Shoulder bar 33 also has a ledge L' inverted and arranged to receive an extension of the lower part of the splicer head as discussed below. The other edge of plate 32 has another anvil and shoulder not shown but constructed and attached in a similar, symmetrical manner to 31 and 33.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the rear surface of mounting plate 10 is seen to carry a bearing plate 12 with upper and lower bores sized and located to receive two rigid smooth-surfaced pipes 13, 14. A pipe spacer and clamp 15 is arranged to hold pipes 13, 14 parallel and spaced so as to slide easily through bearing plate 12. Clamp 15 is spaced along the pipes 13, 14 a distance sufficient to allow back and forth motion equivalent in length to the tow width to be spliced. This clamp also enables relative alignment of upper and lower splicer heads to achieve optimum splicing performance. The inner ends of pipes 13 and 14, as seen from FIG. 3, are fastened respectively to the upper half and the lower half of the splicer head. The outer ends 13', 14' of the pipes are connected to flexible hydraulic hoses, not shown, in FIG. 2 but indicated as 80, in FIG. 6.

The two halves 70, 75 of the splicer head are constructed substantially as taught by Dodson et al. in US.

Pat. No. 3,339,362. The only significant modification to this design as taught is the addition of rectangular extensions 70', 75 as shown in FIG. 4 which are arranged to slide along shoulders 29, 33, respectively. Symmetrical extensions not shown are formed on the other side of each half of the splicer head. An operating handle 76 is attached to and extends downward from the lower half 75 of the splicer head, passing through a slot 23 in lower base plate 32 similar to slot 23. Thus, when handle 76 is moved back and forth in slot 23, it moves lower half 75 of the splicer head and, by virtue of the mechanical connection through pipe 14, clamp 15, and pipe 13, this moves the upper half 70 of the splicer head in unison. The upper and lower halves 70, 75 of the splicer head are constrained to a straightline motion as a result of shoulder bars 29, 33 and the corresponding bars-on the other side of the center line of the apparatus.

The apparatus of this invention may optionally be made movable by mounting it on a wheeled carriage 90 as shown in FIG. 5. In some cases, it may be fixed to a carriage on an overhead monorail.

Control of the air supplies for the pneumatic splicer and the air cylinders is accomplished by means of the piping arrangement shown in FIG. 6. Thus, air from an air supply not shown is passed through air filter 86 and then to branched pipes one of which passes through a foot operated toggle air valve 81 and thence to the two hydraulic hoses 80, 80 which connect to pipes l3, 14 of, for example, FIG. 2. The other branch circuit is further divided, one line of which passes through'a pushbutton air switch 82 from which it branches to pass through two push-button air switches 83, 84 and thence to control parts of an air relay 87 (e.g., Numatrol Model RA-S-OlOl The output of relay 87 goes to bydraulic hoses 88, 88' which in turn are connected to the air-cylinders 60, 60', respectively. Air input is supplied to relay 87 via a branch line from filter 86.

Procedures for operating the tow splicer of this invention will now be described. Two types of splices are commonly made, the first of which is called a lap splice. This type is made by first placing one end of the first tow 18 to be spliced across the apron 50 in front of the splicer with the loose end of the tow to the right as one faces the machine. The loose end should hang down about 30 to 40 cm., being sure that the tow is perfectly flat with no folds or twists on the apron surface. Next, the second tow 19 to be spliced is placed across the first tow with its loose end to the left. Again, its loose end should hang down about 30 to 40 cm., and the tow should be flat with no folds or twists. This second tow must be placed on top of the first tow with the edges corresponding to within about 30 mm. of each other. Next, the overlapping tows are grasped on each side of the apron and slid into slot 40 of the splicer. By looking down through window 23, the edges of the tow can be observed. These should be adjusted so that they are just visible at the two ends of the window. Now, push-button switches 82, 83 are pushed simultaneously. This operates air cylinders 60, 60', and forces clamping bars 26 down onto the tow against anvils 31. Since the tow samples are resting on the top surface of sub-assembly 30 at the time of clamping no sag is possible in the fibers between the clamps and none can be induced by the air-jets from the splicer head. The next step is to depress the foot valve 81 once and release it. Since 81 is a toggle valve, this action turns the air on to supply upper and lower splicer heads 70, 75 through pipes 13, 14 and hoses 80, 80'. Next, the handle 76 is grasped underneath the splicer and moved in and out across the tow at least 6 times. Now valve 81 is depressed again which turns off the air to the splicer heads 70, 75. Air switches 82, 84 are now pressed in order to unclamp the now-spliced tows.

In order to trim the loose ends of the splice uniformly close to the splice, the assembly is now moved to the left and the pneumatically spliced line is aligned to the left edge clamp and anvil 26, 31. Switches 82, 83 are now again pushed so that the splice is clamped for accurate trimming of the surplus upper tow end as it is extending to the left of the apparatus. Next, the tow assembly is unclamped by pushing air switches 82, 84 and the splice assembly is now slid to the right side of the splicer and the splice line is aligned with the right hand clamp and anvil. The assembly of tows is again clamped and the top tow is folded back up over the top of the splicer leaving the free end of the bottom tow available for accurate trimming. Finally, the combined tows are unclamped as before and removed from the splicer apparatus.

A butt splice is made in somewhat similar manner except at first each tow is placed across apron with loose ends hanging down 30 to 40 cm. both to the right hand side. Again both tows are aligned flat with no folds or twists in the section to be spliced. This assembly is then inserted and aligned as before in the slot 40 while viewing the assembly through window 23. It is clamped, the air turned on to the splicer, splicer heads moved back and forth across the tows as previously described for at least about 6 full cycles. The spliced tow assembly is unclamped as before but now moved to the right with the splice line under the right hand clamp, clamped and both loose ends trimmed just beyond the splice. Protruding ends of the spliced fibers are now folded toward the inside of the spliced tow so that the splice may be transported smoothly through a cutter or other processing machinery.

A novel, improved splicing apparatus has been described wherein double clamping means are provided to enable two overlapping tow sections to be held without droop or slack. In addition, means are provided whereby pneumatic splicing jets may be traversed in a narrow controlled path across the full width of overlapping tows. Finally, the clamping arrangement enables the placement and accurate trimming of loose tow ends after the splice has been accomplished. Not only has a stronger, more compact, smoother running splice been made possible, but also the time required to complete the splicing procedure has been reduced from several minutes to as little as l to 2 minutes. This, of course, is particularly important in avoiding excessive stops during production.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein said overlapped tows are passed between opposed jet streams issuing from spaced jets facing each other, the improvement comprising: a support; upper and lower sub-assemblies cantilevered from said support defining a uniform slot there between; means for slidably mounting said spaced jets in said upper and lower sub-assemblies on either side of said slot for movement in unison toward and away from said support; and means adjacent each edge of the slot for releasably clamping the overlapping tows after they are inserted into and extended beyond each edge of the slot.

2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, including an apron extending longitudinally from the lower subassembly beyond said upper assembly.

3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, said support being movable.

4. In an apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein said overlapped tows are passed between opposed fluid jet streams issued from spaced jets facing each other, the improvement comprising: a support means for slidably mounting said spaced jets in said upper and lower sub-assemblies on either side'of said slot for movement in unison toward and away from said support a distance at least equal to the width of the tow; means connected to one of said spaced jets for imparting said movement; and means adjacent each edge of the slot for releasably clamping the overlapping tows after they are inserted into and extended beyond each edge of the slot. 

1. In an apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein said overlapped tows are passed between opposed jet streams issuing from spaced jets facing each other, the improvement comprising: a support; upper and lower sub-assemblies cantilevered from said support defining a uniform slot there between; means for slidably mounting said spaced jets in said upper and lower sub-assemblies on either side of said slot for movement in unison toward and away from said support; and means adjacent each edge of the slot for releasably clamping the overlapping tows after they are inserted into and extended beyond each edge of the slot.
 2. The apparatus as defined in claim 1, including an apron extending longitudinally from the lower sub-assembly beyond said upper assembly.
 3. The apparatus as defined in claim 2, said support being movable.
 4. In an apparatus for splicing overlapped fiber tows wherein said overlapped tows are passed between opposed fluid jet streams issued from spaced jets facing each other, the improvement comprising: a support having a front and rear surface; upper and lower spaced sub-assemblies cantilevered from the front surface of said support defining a uniform slot there between to accommodate said overlapped tows; a pair of rigid pipes attached to the spaced jets; a pair of bearings through said support located above and below said slot, each of said pipes being slidably supported by said pair of bearings; a clamp located beyond the rear surface of said support and connected between said pair of pipes to hold them in a fixed relationship to each other; means for slidably mounting said spaced jets in said upper and lower sub-assemblies on either side of said slot for movement in unison toward and away from said support a distance at least equal to the width of the tow; means connected to one of said spaced jets for imparting said movement; and means adjacent each edge of the slot for releasably clamping the overlapping tows after they are inserted into and extended beyond each edge of the slot. 